Banned Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft free to play club cricket for Willetton

Banned test opener Cameron Bancroft has won the right to play WA club cricket this year – and it all happened while he was getting his yoga fix.

Bancroft’s hopes of lining up for club side Willetton next season rested on the result of an extraordinary vote of the 16 WACA clubs on Monday night.

The 25-year-old is currently serving a nine-month suspension from Cricket Australia for his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

That CA ban ends in late December, at which point Bancroft will be free to play for WA and Australia again.

But under WA Premier Cricket rules, any CA ban automatically extended to WA club ranks, meaning Bancroft wasn’t allowed to play for his local team Willetton while serving his CA suspension.

The situation is different on the other side of the country, where fellow banned test players David Warner and Steve Smith are free to play club cricket in NSW while serving their 12-month CA suspensions.

The WADCC has granted Cameron Bancroft an exemption to play Premier Cricket for Willetton during the 2018-19 season. @WAPremCricket